As the Green Wave stumbles out of the weekend having dropped
all three games in a series with Rice, Tulane's chances of making the Conference
USA Tournament are diminishing.

The trouble is, Tulane still has midweek games to trudge
through and though they will have little impact on the season --- the Green
Wave has virtually no chance at garnering an at-large NCAA berth – the
competition in-state isn't weakening at all. McNeese State (20-14) is Tulane's
next opponent and like Southeastern Louisiana and UNO, it is no automatic "w"
on the schedule.

"We know the only way to make a post-season is we have to
get in the conference tournament and win it," Carthon said. "It's not that
midweek (games) aren't important. But we need those wins to boost our
confidence and get our momentum going."

Interim coach Jake Gautreau said everything now for the
14-20 Green Wave club is about gaining traction and momentum. In other words,
Tuesday night has nothing to do with the Cowboys.

"It's not so much
about who we are playing or who's on the mound for them, it's a lot more about
us battling ourselves," Gautreau said. "I like where the mindset it, I like the
effort. We are going to go out there and try to play smart baseball
and do the little things that matter to win games. We are not going
to worry about who we are playing or who is coming in on Tuesday."

The Green Wave has been struggling as of late to find
consistent offense. The added pressure is that the in-state teams like
University of Louisiana-Lafayette have strengthened.

"By no means are these next couple weekday games going to be
easy. We are going to have to go compete," outfielder Richard Carthon said.

Tulane has only one player in the starting lineup hitting
over .300 and that's freshman Jake Willsey at .301. Though the pitchers
by-and-large have stepped to the plate and delivered – the hitting has yet to
back the staff up. The team batting average is .226.

But a good performance against the Cowboys could help
matters.

"Obviously we haven't been playing the greatest we can and
the next game is big. The next game is always a good game, no matter what. I
just hope we can come out and get some confidence. That's definitely the thing
I think we need," pitcher Corey Merrill said.

Gautreau added:

"The
next game is always the goal. Right now if we worry about making the
conference tournament and our focus is there, it can take away from what you
are trying to do right now. We are just trying to win games.
We are going to try and win Tuesday and we are going into a road
conference weekend next weekend. If you get caught up in trying to
get into the conference tournament, I think you can worry about too
much. We need to worry about what's going on right now."

The Cowboys might have dropped their past weekend's series
to Northwestern State, but the 20-win ball club will be difficult to beat,
Gautreau said.

"McNeese is a good
club," Gautreau said. "The guys on the staff are really good friends of ours.
They do a really good job and they are playing good baseball."